By Foday Moriba Conteh
In a bid for the Freetown and Kanifing municipalities to explore avenues to formalize and strengthen ties with each other, the Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr has on Friday 9th April 2021 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Lord Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Ahmed Talib Bensouda. The signing ceremony took place at the Freetown City Hall in Freetown after four days of in-depth discussions of various issues of common interest to the two cities.
It could be recalled that the Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr on the 5th April 2021 welcomed the Lord Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Ahmed Talib Bensouda and his delegation to Freetown on a week-long visit which provided opportunities for the team from Kanifing Municipality to see #TransformFreetown at work and experience Freetown as well as share their achievements and challenges.
In her address, Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr said that the connection between the two countries and now, the two cities can do everything they have seen and talked about which will be done together, adding that there are real opportunities for exchange between the two cities.
She noted that at the Freetown City Council, the Transform Freetown priorities are grouped within four clusters – Resilience, Human Development, Healthy Cities and Urban Mobility which she said have over the years taken a global proportion.
In identifying the six areas of collaboration with the city of Kanifing, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr revealed that these include affordable housing, climate change, market infrastructure, public transportation, revenue mobilization and waste management, adding that they are going to be mutually shared between the two countries.
She said that they are so excited to share the work they have done and to look across Kanifing in order to see the kind of work they have been doing so as to adopt approaches which are good.
The Mayor of Freetown also pointed out that the collaboration is in two ways; the learning of experiences being shared between the two cities. “When you see your city in the eyes of another city leader you actually learn more,” she averred.
She maintained when driving around with the Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Ahmed Talib Bensouda paying a visit to the Susan’s Bay Community, the Kingtom Waste Management Dump etc she saw her city through the eyes of another leader.
“It has been a pleasure to have you here and we look forward to seeing this relationship flourish in the not too distant future on the concrete actions that we take in the areas of our collaboration,” she concluded.
Delivering his statement, the Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Ahmed Talib Bensouda expressed appreciation to the Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr and team for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
He noted that the city of Kanifing Municipality is the largest municipality in The Gambia which happens to be the heartbeat of that nation.
Ahmed Talib Bensouda said it has been a fantastic week-long visit to Freetown saying during his visit they visited various places which has provided insights for the team from Kanifing Municipality to see #TransformFreetown at work in addition to other experiences gained of which he used the opportunity to commend the Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr and the entire team at the Freetown City Council for their laudable venture in transforming Freetown.
He said his visit has provided the opportunity to have in-depth discussions on various matters of common interests to the cities, furthering that the signing of the MOU between two cities will definitely contribute towards the development of the two nations.
